October 2025
In this issue:
The Office of Standards and Learning at the Oklahoma State Department of Education is excited to announce free professional development workshops for the 2025-26 school year. These workshops will be held in different regions of the state and are designed to support educators with effective instructional strategies aligned to the Oklahoma Academic Standards. The secondary ELA workshop will be about generative artificial intelligence.
Harnessing the Power of GenAI in the ELA Classroom
Step into the exciting frontier where language arts meets artificial intelligence! This dynamic workshop explores how Generative AI (GenAI) can transform teaching and learning in secondary English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms. Discover the mechanics behind GenAI and unleash its potential as a powerful tool for students to enhance their reading comprehension, spark writing ideas, and refine revision skills.
Through hands-on exploration in collaborative groups, you'll categorize GenAI literacies appropriate for different grade bands. Experience GenAI in action as you evaluate your own writing assignments using an innovative acceptable use rating scale, customize a ready-to-use syllabus statement for your classroom, and examine practical student disclosure* templates with real-world examples.
Whether you're AI-curious or looking to refine your existing digital literacy instruction, you'll leave equipped with concrete strategies and practical tools to thoughtfully and ethically integrate GenAI into your classroom. (*Note: Claude, an AI tool, helped refine this description.)
- Please bring a charged device.
- This workshop is an expanded version of the one-hour session offered at InspireOK and as a webinar this summer.
- The in-person workshops will be from 12:30-3:30 p.m. Space is limited, so register today.
Registration Links:
If you would like to have a full day of in-person professional development, Dr. Karen Leonard, Program Director of AI & Digital Learning, will lead a morning session from 8:30-11:30 a.m. on the same day as the ELA workshops. The workshop description and registration follow.
AI in the Classroom: A Practical Workshop for Educators
Ready to make AI your ally in education? This session offers a clear pathway to understanding and using artificial intelligence. We'll start with the basics of AI, then explore practical AI tools and helpful resources you can use right away. You'll gain strategies for integrating AI into your teaching, thoughtful insights into the ethical questions surrounding its use, and actionable ideas for equipping your students for an AI-driven future.
Registration Links:
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The Oklahoma Council of Teachers of English will host its fall conference on Friday, October 24, 2025, in Oklahoma City at the MetroTech Springlake campus. The conference theme is Dream Boldly with Technology. Registration closes on October 10.
The keynote will be delivered by Kristin Ziemke, the recent co-author of the book, Read the World: Rethinking Literacy for Empathy and Action in a Digital Age.
The 20 breakout session titles and descriptions are now posted.
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The Secondary EL Literacy Summit will take place at the Oklahoma State Department of Education's Oliver Hodge Building on October 21, 22, and 23, from 8:30 am - 3:30 pm.
This workshop is designed for secondary English language development specialists and content teachers who aim to create supportive and rigorous learning environments for secondary English Learners and newcomers.
Secondary educators join Day 1 and 2 (October 21 & 22, 2025, from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm) to focus on writing instruction that supports the use of the Teaching & Learning Cycle as a way to empower multilingual writers, not only to produce successful academic writing, but more importantly, to communicate effectively for a variety of purposes and audiences. Students need to learn to leverage writing as a powerful tool to understand the world, express themselves effectively, learn from one another, and argue for things they believe in. This vision requires intentional language focused instruction and is strengthened when it occurs through authentic writing tasks in the content areas.
On Day 3 (October 23, 2025, from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm), educators will explore key factors that influence literacy development in content areas, focusing on how to engage students in content learning. Participants will learn strategies to analyze newcomers’ literacy strengths and identify areas for growth. Through practical application, educators will gain tools for scaffolding instruction to ensure secondary newcomers can engage with grade-level content in reading and writing, promoting their academic success.
To learn more, click on this flyer. The 3-day workshop is limited to 35 participants, so sign up by October 13, 2025.
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Are you interested in attending the Advanced Placement Summer Institute (APSI) in Summer 2026? We want to hear from you.
Your feedback will help us design the best institute yet by offering the courses and formats that matter most to Oklahoma teachers. Take just a minute to fill out this short survey, and you will play a big role in shaping APSI 2026.
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2025-26 Poetry Out Loud school registration is open! Poetry Out Loud is a poetry recitation competition for high school students. It encourages students to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation while helping students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life.
The deadline to register is November 4, 2025.
Questions? Contact Jessica Switzer with Oklahoma A+ Schools.
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 Back in August I learned about Harkness discussions from my friend and former colleague. Harkness discussions originated at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. Twelve students and one teacher sit around an oval table and discuss the subject at hand. But how can this be adapted to a classroom of 30+ students?
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Inner/Outer Circles: Place 10-12 students in an inner circle for the discussion. Students in the outer circle listen and take notes. After 10-15 minutes, swap groups. For larger classes, two rotations may be necessary. An alternate method is to tag out 4-6 students from the inner circle every 5-10 minutes so that the inner circle is always changing.
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Multiple Groups: Place students in 2-3 groups, depending on class size, and allow discussions to run simultaneously. Ensure student participant and reflection by assigning certain students to track participation. Who asked and answered questions? All students could write a brief reflection on what they learned from the discussion.
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Giant Discussion: Engage in a whole-class discussion, but make sure it is still led by students, not the teacher. As the teacher, you can create a talking diagram while student discuss to track who asks and answers questions. "Draw a circle and label students around it. When one student speaks, draw a line to them on the circle. When someone responds, draw a line to that student. This way you can track how often students share and don’t share. It becomes valuable data that you can share with individual students as encouragement when they are making regular, meaningful contributions, and also to incline students who are not contributing to share more." (source)
 Check out a sample Harkness discussion on YouTube. This example showcases students unpacking a poem they have never read before, but students can also read a text in advance and prepare questions for the day of discussion.
Writing Prompt
Inktober is an annual challenge for artists to draw a daily picture based on a one-word prompt. When I taught high school creative writing, one of my students, Sarah V., told me about Inktober. She suggested we modify the challenge for writing. Each day, we could take the assigned word and incorporate it into a short piece of writing. Alternatively, we could use each word as a title to a short poem.
Inktober is traditionally celebrated in October, but you could use this list for any other month this year--especially those with 31 days.
Since this writing prompt is meant to be only a 5-10 minute exercise, pick one word from this list below and write in response. For a different challenge, pick the word that shares the day you were born. For example, since I was born on September 6, I would write in response to 6 (Pierce). For an extreme challenge, use as many words as you can from this list in your prose or poem response.
 Reading Quote
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